eMediaMillWorks
Tuesday, August 1, 2000

Following is the transcript of former senator Bob Dole's speech at the Republican National Convention

DOLE: Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

Thank you. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

There is still time for a recount.

(APPLAUSE)

Well, I've had a very exciting day today. This morning Strom Thurmond took me to Constitution Hall and showed me where he first met Ben Franklin.

(LAUGHTER)

Thank you. Thank you, General Schwarzkopf.

Tonight I have the honor and pleasure of being here with no agenda and no greater ambition than to help give our country what she deserves, leadership worthy of the next American century.

(APPLAUSE)

Like presidents Ford, Reagan and Bush, I am honored to be part of what is called the greatest generation.

And flattering that sounds, the truth is, we were ordinary Americans who along with millions of others who were called upon to meet extraordinary challenges. And whatever we may be today as a nation, it is because many generations of Americans were willing to make the greatest of sacrifices.

Our Kansas motto: ``To the stars through difficulties.'' And there the American century in a phrase.

And during the bleak '30s and '40s it was fashionable in some quarters to see democracy as a dying faith, an exhausted creed that must give way to dictators of the right and left, but we knew better. And when war was forced upon us, we left our homes to rescue civilization from those who would put the soul itself in bondage. And many of us, too many of us, never returned. And today, they rest where they fell, in the green fields of France, beneath Italy's frowning peaks and under the turquoise waters of the Pacific.

And tonight, I am honored to speak for these voiceless heroes and for their comrades who survived the deadliest war ever inflicted on the human family. And more than a half-century after the guns fell silent, our ranks are dwindling, our reunions grow thin.

We've gone from over 16 million to less than 6 million. But the memories endure. And with them, the ability to inspire unborn generations to meet their own defining tests. And may they take heart from the example of those who defended freedom in its darkest hour. Yet, whatever our past achievements, our main obligation is to the future. Thus, our mission is incomplete until we recognize now and for all time the World War II generation on the Mall in Washington, D.C.

(APPLAUSE)

There, on democracy's sacred ground, we will build a monument to those who saved democracy. We will honor their service. We will mourn their sacrifice. We will remind tomorrow's Americans that they are descended from heroes for whom liberty is a birthright.

But in a larger sense--but in a larger sense, no group of stone pillars or arches, moving as those symbols may be, can fully recognize their contributions. If you want to see their true memorial, look around you at this convention, at the upcoming convention in Los Angeles, and the election in November, and every time free men and women assemble to determine their destiny. That's the true memorial.

(APPLAUSE)

Four years ago, I said I was the most optimistic man in America, and I still am.

And I have seen, in a single lifetime, Americans split the atom, abolish Jim Crow, eliminate the scourge of polio, win the Cold War, plant our flag on the surface of the moon, belatedly recognize the talents of women and others once relegated to the shadows, develop the Internet, lead the information age, and map the human genome.

And much of this we all take for granted. Yet, all of this was once part of a barely imaginable America--the youngest, bravest, freest land on the planet.

And today we meet in the birthplace of American liberty to renew our social contract. We look to Governor Bush and Secretary Cheney to raise our sights and restore honor and civility to our public life.

(APPLAUSE)

Meanwhile, the struggle to realize America's promise must be waged with every generation. And wherever I go, I meet young people who want to be part of something larger than themselves, heroes in waiting who realize that often the only path to the stars is through difficulty. And don't be fooled by their wardrobe or their music, they are as great a generation as this nation has ever produced and don't forget it.

(APPLAUSE)

And even as we meet, they're fighting quiet wars of their own, combating poverty, prejudice, isolation and indulgence. And my fondest hope that all their challenges are in community service and classrooms and research labs, not on foreign battlefields.

(APPLAUSE)

And finally, let me say this...

(APPLAUSE)

... and, of course, in my life I've experienced honor such as come to very few. For 36 years, the people of Kansas entrusted me with their voice and their vote in Washington.

(APPLAUSE)

And twice the party has nominated me for the nation's highest offices, but the greatest privilege of my life has been to wear the uniform of our country in a righteous cause in World War II.

(APPLAUSE)

And not far from here--not from here, Lincoln at Gettysburg said: It is us for the living to be dedicated here to the unfinished work for which they who fought have thus far so no nobly advanced. It is for us to dedicated to the great task remaining before us.

The task before us is the unending struggle to realize America's promise, to build a society as decent as it is prosperous, to ensure freedom's survival and expand the frontiers of opportunity, to win home-front victories for justice and human dignity.

In this struggle we shall find our strength in many places, but the ultimate source of our purpose comes from above.

So this evening, let us look up and let us look into the eyes of those who are defending our shores--help all of us to reach for the stars.

Thank you very much and God bless America.

(APPLAUSE)

Now, thank you. Now, thank you. And now please join me in saluting the greatest generation of veterans and every generation of our armed services. We ask that all veterans who are here with us in the hall tonight stand and be recognized as your respective service songs are played.